MasterCard, Silicon Valley Bank Pick Commerce Startups

MasterCard and Silicon Valley Bank have selected the next group of participants for its Commerce.Innovated. virtual accelerator class intended to give startups the boost needed to grow.

These latest selections range from mobile lending to instant authentication and identity checks and will be part of the program that entails a four-month virtual program. During that program, the startups get access to resources and assistance to help grow their business plans based on expert advice from Silicon Valley Bank, MasterCard and their respective networks.

“This program is an important element of our engagement with local startups developing breakthrough commerce solutions,” said Stephane Wyper, VP of startup engagement and acceleration for MasterCard. “It is important that we support startups that are bringing fresh, creative ideas and experimenting with next generation of solutions, as they will create better experiences for our customers, partners and the entire commerce ecosystem.”

The four companies that were selected to participate in the current class: Alloy, an API to collect and manage customer data, from New York; Float, a mobile credit provider, from California; LaunchKey, a next-generation mobile authentication platform, from Nevada; and an unnamed startup in the mobile app space.

“We’re excited to work with the next class of Commerce.Innovated.,” said Reetika Grewal, head of Silicon Valley Bank’s payments strategy. “The commerce and FinTech sectors continue to gain momentum as startups work to balance innovation and their regulatory requirements. We love working side by side with these incredible entrepreneurs and lending our knowledge and networks to help them develop the infrastructure and operations that they need to accelerate their growth.”

Commerce.Innovated., which launched in 2014, has worked with 14 commerce-focused startups to date, including Apruve, AppZen, CardFlight, Dash, Footmarks, Gone, Local Maven, Nowsta, PayByGroup, PennyOwl, Slide, Spend Labs, Splitwise and Standard Treasury. To qualify for the program, companies must have a solution in place that improves commerce and have seed funding in place or be in the process of fundraising.

“Commerce.Innovated. has been a key contributor to the strategic decisions that shaped our product, as well as the growth of the company,” said Anant Kale, CEO of AppZen. “The connections, resources and expertise we gained through the program were very helpful in making the right decisions, and we look forward to a lasting relationship with our partners at Commerce.Innovated.”